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Castro, Patrick to Debate Immigration

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The Houston debate pits San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro (L) against state Sen. Dan Patrick (R), a Houston Republican competing against Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a May 27 GOP primary.

A prominent immigration reform advocate faces a prominent Republican hardliner on immigration reform Tuesday in a debate recorded for Spanish-language television stations statewide.

The Houston debate pits San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro against state Sen. Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican competing against Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a May 27 GOP primary.

Castro advocates granting legal residency to young people brought by their parents into the United States without papers.

Castro has been critical of Patrick, a tea party-backed radio talk show host who has decried what he calls the "invasion" of immigrants coming across the Texas border. Patrick was dogged shortly before the March 4 first primary by allegations, which he denied, that he knowingly hired immigrants in the country illegally at bars he owned in the 1980s.